Buzz Patterson
@BuzzPatterson
Today’s “Buzz’s Bedtime Stories” is a look at my initial experiences in the Clinton White House. A thread.
1) In the late 1990s, I was an Air Force pilot and Operations Officer for a C-141 squadron based at Travis Air Force Base, California. I was a single guy flying all over the world, sometimes in combat, and always with the American flag on my left shoulder. I had a squadron of really superb aircrews, the best I ever flew with. Great people, great mission, and successfully operating all over the world, whether combat, humanitarian aid, special operations. It was the greatest time of my life, personally and professionally, and I wouldn’t change a day.
One morning I received a phone call in my office from the White House literally out of the blue. Initially I thought it was the guys down the hall screwing with me (military squadrons are like college fraternities; work really hard and play really hard), so I laughed and hung up.
Immediately, the White House called me back and confirmed that they were, in fact, the White House. Chagrined, I took the second call and was quite a bit more respectful. 🤣
In a matter of weeks I was jetting across the nation to interview at the White House to be the President of the United States Air Force Military Aide and carry the “Nuclear Football.” THE most important piece of luggage in the world, containing the means to launch nuclear weapons at the commander in chief’s order. It’s not a job you apply for. They find you.
They found me, and they hired me. In the spring of 1996, I assumed my new responsibility and went to work for President William Jefferson Clinton.
The White House is an amazing place to work. An office complex surrounding the president’s residence with 200+ years of history. I vividly remember walking into the building for the first time in the spring of 1996. It was a beautiful spring morning, cherry blossoms blooming, and a glorious blue sky.
As I strolled up the walk to the East Wing entrance, a young major suddenly transplanted from an operational flying organization into the most important building in the world, little did I know at the time that it would be a moment that changed me forever.
The walls smell like American history. I used to spend lonely evenings walking around the mansion and looking at historical books in the library, one of my favorite rooms in the building. Once, killing time, I started pulling books out of the shelves and leafing through them. One was owned by George Washington. The inscription to him is still legible. I was holding a book that George Washington once held. It was sobering and underscored the significance of the building I worked in.
In the end, though, the White House is both a residence and an office complex. Typically, it’s extremely busy during the day and eerily quiet at night. As a military aide, I had an office and a bedroom in the East Wing and would share presidential coverage with my fellow military aides, one officer from each of the services. The best of the best from each service. In fact, my Navy brother would go on to be CNO. Unfortunately, the president we were chosen to work for was Bill Clinton.
Carrying the “nuclear football” is a sobering responsibility. For military aides, you are literally carrying the means to destroy the world in a large, black suitcase. A brief look back at our history reveals that with the development of nuclear weapons post-WWII, the Eisenhower administration implemented a set of nuclear protocols that included targeting and secured communications.
The Kennedy administration eventually assigned these duties to the military aide, and every president since has had a military officer in close proximity to the president with the suitcase.
As you read this, today, a military aide is within very close proximity to President Trump.
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